1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for automatically ordering supplies for an apparatus in which the supplies are consumed during usage of the apparatus, as well as to an arrangement for the implementation of the method, particularly a method and arrangement which are employable for supplies of postage meter machines. The method and arrangement are applicable to ink cartridges for ink jet printing units, thermal transfer inking ribbon cassettes, self-adhesive franking tapes or other supplies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Postage meter machines have been known since the 1920's and are still being constantly improved. The printing principle has changed from originally purely mechanical versions having a printing drum to electronic versions having a thermal transfer head or an ink jet printing head. Beginning in the 1970's, microprocessors and electronic credit memories have been utilized in the increasingly electronic controls. Moreover, specific security measures have been developed which are intended to prevent or detect an unauthorized tampering that is harmful to the manufacturer or the user or the mail carrier. The postage meter machine also consumes printing ink and the parts participating in the printing are subject to wear, and it is in the interest of the user and of the mail carrier that qualitatively high-grade material of the manufacturer be used. When, however, pirate products are utilized, this influences the service life and the printing quality of the machine. Pirate products usually are offered at a lower price because they are usually of a lesser quality than authorized products, and may be easier to acquire than the original materials via a dealer.
The dealers of postage meter machines are often responsible for deliveries to the customers and the customer believes the manufacturer is at fault if the deliveries do not arrive on time or are too expensive. The customer/user often does not plan delivery requirements properly enough in advance and the risk of downtime of the customers mail processing may arise due to lack of supplies, such as ink. Consequently, urgent requests for assistance to the manufacturer for supplies result, which must be partly delivered by courier. This could be alleviated by a direct distribution of the supplies to the customer, assuming an order placed in time.
It is known to display an impending change of a consumable supply item via a display. German OS 195 49 376 discloses utilizing sensors for determining the remaining quantity of inking ribbon in inking ribbon cassettes for a thermal transfer printer, or to count the number of imprints with the controller of the thermal transfer printer. Counting the imprints produced by a piezo ink jet printing head, however, cannot supply any information about the remaining amount of ink in the ink tank reservoir because, given a low through medium number of frankings per day, consumption due to priming predominates, thereby reducing the number of possible imprints per ink tank filling. In piezo ink jet printing heads, unfortunately, a large part of the ink is lost during priming and cannot be re-supplied to the head. It is therefore important for reliable ink supply that the depletion of ink in the reservoir be recognized and signaled in time. Making an order for ink re-supply, however, continues to be the responsibility of the customer.